Water-gas apparatus



March z5, 1930. Ffw, STEERE 1,751,497

Y WATER GAS APARATUS originalfFi'led Mair 7, 1925 Hm www@ (Miami),

ltented MaraZ-S, 193Q I FRANK w. sTEEnE, or NEW YORK, N; Y., YOUNG-WHITWELL GAs rRocEss COMP v BOBATION OF WASHINGTON- 1PAralsrr; o/F'Fica l,

AssIGivoR, BYv MEsNE ASSIGNMENTS, 'ro ANY, or '.rAcoMA, WASHINGTON, A con- WATEBGAS ABPARATU'S Appucaaon' mea .may 7, 192s, seria1'N0. 637,15a Renewed August e, `192'?.

The invention relates -to a gasl making I apparatus and' is designed as 1an improvement upon the invention of D. J. Young described in his applications for patent on ,5 Apparatus and process for makingilluminating gas, Ser. No. 477,365, filed June 14, 1921, Patent No. 11,468,190 and Ser. No. A 570,207, filed June 22, 1922.

One of the important objects of the inven 10 tion is to provide an improved means for passing' steam through the water gas plant as a whole, the steam being introd iced at the top of the superheater, becoming superheated in passing through the superheater andv car- 1'5 buretter and being, therefore, placed in the most favorable condition to react with the fuel in the generator for the manufacture of water'gas. Another object of the .invention is to pro- A further object is toprovide an improved means for superheating the backrun steam within a one,l two, or three shell set. Heretofore the socalled down run steam has not been supe-rheated or has beenheated only b'y means of expensive external equipment or The improved apparatus.

additional shells. which eliminates these defects, results, therefore, both in a'fuel saving and a capacity a5 increase. j A further .object is to provide meansN by which the checkerbrick in the carburetter and superheater may be kept clean. Heretofore these have become fouled, even when is operated with decreased maintenance cost and admits of the use as an enricher 'of the cheaper low grade oils.

The invention further provides an improved means for reversing the 'lowof steam throughout the entire one, two, or three shell set without the obligatory use of valves. The present apparatus is slm ler, the operating costs are less,- and t ere is much vide 'an unobstructed passage from the' using a high grade oil, after as little as 1200 hours, of operation.` The improved device greater ease yof both operation and maintenance. v Another important advantage of the present device is that'it is adapted to burn any.-

generator fuel.l Heretofore the use of bituand the result is,- therefore, a reduced fuel Cost.

A further and very important object'of the invention isto provide means for recirculating the backrun blue water gas ,throughv the entire' set'. By n'oW increasing the vole5 umeof gases circulated through the machine a greatly increased capacity is attained with a consequent decrease in the cost of manufacturing the gas.

, The present invention'is applicable with 7o I but slight modifications to many lexisting carburetted water gas equipments. This rev` 'duces the cost of installing the system in an existing plant to a minimum and makesthe i wide use ofthe backrun possible.

',Further objects of the invention from the description andiclaims which follow w'ill'- appear. l,

The invention may b e more clearly under` vstood by reference to the accompanying 30 drawings in which are shown an illustrative Y embodiment ofthe invention, itbeing understood that many changes in detail may be made without departing from the spirit ofj the invention.

In the drawings 1,i s a view showinga water gas'plant,- partsbeing shown`in vertical section andV parts in elevation.

Fig.'2 is a top plan view of theplant. Referring first to the apparatus shownv in the drawings, the shells designatedbythe -reference characters A, B, and C, are respecti vely the water gas-generator, carburet` 95 ter, and superheater, of a carbureted water gasset. They may be arranged as shown' or. the. carburetter and superheater maybe combined' in one shell or all three 'shells may be superimposed, or any other desired ar- 'v rangementv may be employed. D is the washbox.

. kGrenerator A is provided with the usual fuel charging door A and vwith grates A uponwhich the fuel rests as shown. There are clean-out"do'ors under the' grates (not- W, which is not obstructed in any way by a.

valve or other device. Between the carburetter and superheater there is a similar opening or connecting passage Y, similarly unobstructed.

, i LeadingA into the base of the generator A, under the grates A" is a pipe E through which air lcontrolled by the valve F may pass. A

' similar air pipe Gr provided with valve H leads to the top of the carburetter. A third air line might lead to the' bottom of the superheater (not shown).

Also below the grates A in the generator A there is introduced a pipe N provided with a valve P. This pipe is known as the back- `run gas pipe.V Similarly, from the top 'of the superheater C, there leads a gas oiftake pipe, N. Offtake pipe N connects with backrun pipe N at S. S maybeV a T or cross or other suitable connection. F rom S a single pipe \T 'leads to the wash-box D. Pipe N"may be provided witha butterfly or other valve if de-` sire'd or required. Such a valve is not shown in the drawing. When the valve is not used lthere is, therefore, a free and unobstructed main passagefrom under the grates A, through A, W, B, Y, C, N', S, and T, to the wash-'box D..

A by-pass connection R is placed between oi'takejpe N and backrun pipe N. This by-pass is inserted ahead of the connection S which has also been described as connectingpipes N and 'N. By-pass R may be curved as shown or of any other shape suitable to the function performed by this bypass as hereinafter described.

In the by-pass R is introduced a steam- -line as shown at K. Steam flow is controlled by valves L. The steam-lineKtermina'tes in the nozzle M as shown.

Another steam-line shown as I is introduced under the grates A in the generator A. Steam iiow through this line is controlled by the valve J.

In operating this set many procedures are at onceapparent to those versed in the art.

Onemethod, know-n as the split-run, will be the generator fuel. The air admitted to the' top of the carbureter (and the bottom of the superheater, if so desired) enters into secondary combustion with the products of the primary combustion. .y The .final combustion products pass .out at the superheater stack Z. 'The result ofthisoperatiomwwhich is-known as the air blasting, is that the uelY-bed in the generator is heated to incandescence and. the checkerbrick in thev carburetter and superheater have large quantities of heat stored in them. Blasting may be continued for as long as necessary, usually two or three minutes.

At the end of the blast, valve J is opened, and valves F, H, and Z, closed. Valve VJnay also be opened. Steam is now being admitted at the base of the generator. Passing up through the fire-bed, it is decomposed, forming blue water gas containing principally hydrogen, carbon monoxide, a little carbon dioxide, and a small quantity of other constituents. The blue water gas passes into the top ofthe carbureter through the passage W..

lf valve V is open oil is eing admitted to the carburetter where the heat there stored cracks and vaporizes the oil into a combination of gases, in large part, hydrocarbons. This oil gas mixed with the blue water gas becomes fixed as the gases pass down through the carburetter, through the passage Y, up through the superheater, through the pipes N and T (some gas perhaps passing through R and N) and into the wash-box, froml whence they pass through a suitable pipe T to whatever place is desired. Such procedure is known as an up-run. The up-run may be continued as long as desirable; At its termination, valves J and V are closed and valves P and L opened. If used the valve in N is closed. A backrun is now starting. Steam admitted through the nozzle M passes through by-pass R into ofl'take pipe N and thence into the top of the superheater, down through the superheater, throughthe passage Y and up through the carburetter and passage Wvinto the top of the generator. In so doing, the steam has become superheated by heat transfer from the checkerbrick. Furthermore, by mechanical and chemical action, this steam has removed from the checkerbrick' such ash and carbon as may have become deposited on them. Finally the checkerbrick, particularly at the top of the superheater, has become cooled.

The steam at-the generator passes down through the incandescent irebed and becomes decomposed into blue water gas which passes vout at the base of the generator into the backrun pipe N and thence through pipe T into the wash-box.

I he introduction of steam at M, however,

' in this manner causes a portion of the gas inthe backrun pipe N to be by-passed through the pipe R from whence it `accompanies the 'steam and is recirculated through the set. ,This recirculation depends uponthe` extent of the 1n]ector action of the steam-flowing.

through the nozzle M, upon the velocity heads of the various gases involved and upon the pressure conditions in the set. rl`he act of recirculation, however, has a most important and beneficial effect upon the economical operation of the set inthe manufacture of carburetted water gas.

First, a larger volume and weight of gases is passed through the superheater and carburetter than if steam alone were so passed,

thereby 'transferring to the generatorwhere it can do useful work the heat contained in the superheater and carburetter, which would be otherwise Wasted.

Second, when blue water gas is passed a second time through the lirebed, the carbon dioxlde contained therein is afforded another i opportunity to'become reduced to the more valuable carbon monoxide. Third,the capacity of the set is greatly inA- creased as will be shown in the following discussion. lWhen steam reacts with incan- -descent carbon, two main reactions are possible according to the temperatureand concentrationlof the reacting substances,

'The first of these two is the one most desired in making carburetted water gas.

Maximum capacity, among other things, requires maximum passage of steam. The amount of steam possible to be used, however, is limited'by a further reaction Too much steam, therefore, has heretofore ref sulted in the formation of carbon dioxide, so

undesirable 4as to limit the amount of steam sable and, with it, the capacity of the set.

Recirculation of considerableportions of the backrun gas permitsthe use of excess .steam and the attainment of increased capacity because when carbon dixide is formed,

it is later reduced to carbon monoxide by again passing through the firebed and coming 1n Contact with incandescent carbon', thus .CO2 C 200.

With this understanding of the backrun, a further description of the operation may be made. When the backrun has'proceeded for such length of time as may be desirable, for instance, two minutes, valves P and L are closed and valve J opened. If used, the valve in N, is opened. Another steam up-run is now in` operationa- Valve V maybe opened and oil' admitted but this procdure on-this 11p-run is not` preferred. `This up-run co'ntinues as desired,preferably for from 5 to 15 seconds, when the lire-bed has become so cooled from the endothermic reactions due to the passage of steam, that theair blast must beagain used. Valve J is thereforeclosed and valves F, H, and Z, opened. The cycle can now be repeated.

vThe operation-as herein 'outlined is .merelyA The oil admitted to the carburetter to be i vaporized, cracked, -and fixed, as oil gas to carburet the bluefwater gas, may be of any quality becauseI of the cleansing action of the backrun steam on the checkerfbrick.

rlhe improved apparatus is` adapted to bel used cheaply in all existing carburetted water las equipment, slight modifications' only being required; This reduces the cost of installing the system in an existing plant and makes'the wide use of the backrun possible.

The invention results furtherin a reduc.

tion of sensible heat loss. Heretofore the gases, both on blast and make, have left the superheater at 13000 to 1400o F. Accordingto the present apparatus they leave the superheater on the forward run at 900o to 1000 F'. and on the backrun they leave the base of the generator 'at.200 to 300 F. These loW temperatures of the outgoing backrun gases materially decrease the subsequent cooling problem with respect to these gases.

It is obvious that many changes in various ydetails maybe made without vdeparting from the spirit of the invention the 'scope of .which is to be limited only bythe appended claims.

Forexample, a two shell instead of avthree shell set may be used or the number of shells may .be increased beyond three, if desired. Furthermore, while the best results have in practice been Iobtained by locating the steam jet M beyond the superheater of a three shell set as herein shown and described, the jet may be located beyond the carburetter if desired or in a set of more than three shells .it may be located just beyond any particular one of the shells. v

,It will also be noted that the jet M is not f directed toward the generator or toward any one of the shells but is directed at an angle to the ofltake passage of the adjacent shell,l

as the passage N in the construction shown.

This arrangement facilitates the withdrawal of a portion of gas from the backrun plpe N y without interfering with the flow of the re- 4 mainder to the wash-box D. It also permits 5 of the passage of all of the admitted steam ,in a direction away from the .wash-box.

It will be understood that in the claims the term heat interchanger refers to the carburetter or superheater or b oth. 1b, Iclaimz- Y l 1: A water gas set including a generator and a heat interchanger containing heated checkerwork connected in series by a free and unobstructed main passage, a second passage leading from the generator to a gas offtake, and a by-pass connecting the said passages, said by-passhaving a steam jet therein adapted to deliver steam in a direction at an angle to the normal gas flow through the main passage. l y

2. A carburetted water gas set including a generator, carburetter, and superheater, connected in series by a free and unobstructed main passage, a second passage leading from the generator to a gas o'take, and a by-pass connecting the said passages, said by-pass having a steam jet therein adapted to deliver steam in a direction at an angle to the normal gas flow through`the main passage.

3. A water gas plant having a main passage leading from a generator through a carburetter and a superheater to a gas oli'take, a4

'second passage leading fromthe generator to the gas otake, a by-pass connection between said main passage and said second passage, and a steam jet located in said by-pass.

v 4. A water gas setincluding a generator and a superheater, a main passage leading from said generator through the superheater 40 to a gas oftake, a second passage leading from the generator to said oiftale, a by-pss connection between saidmain passage and said second passage, and a steam jet located in said by-pass adapted to deliver steam in a direction at an angle to the normal flow of gas through the main passageway.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand this 2nd day of May, 1923.

FRANK W. STEERE. 

